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Tag Archives: Underwater

10 Great Father’s Day Presents for the Water Dad

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Father’s Day is right around the corner. In fact, make sure you have it on your calendar that it is this weekend, June 16, 2019. I know I say this a lot, but didn’t we just come off Christmas? Goodness, we are about halfway through the year. But back to the topic at hand… Father’s Day, June 16, 2019. If you haven’t gotten your dad a present, it isn’t too late!

We have you covered in fact. We’ve come up with 10 Great Father’s Day presents for the water dad. What’s a water dad? Well, that’s a father who loves the outdoors and the water!! So now I present you with options for Father’s Day!

10 Great Father’s Day Presents for the Water Dad!

One – Open Water SCUBA Classes

Open Water SCUBA Classes are perfect! They allow your dad to explore the underwater world. See that 70% of the earth that is covered in water. You say your dad is already Open Water SCUBA Certified? Well, don’t worry, we have many other options of classes so get in here and sign him up! While you’re at it, sign yourself up too. He needs a dive buddy!

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Memorial Day Weekend 2019 – The Weekend for Vehicle Problems

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Hello everyone!  Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend, it has several meanings for people. It is a federal holiday in the United States, observed on the last Monday in May. It commemorates the U.S. men and women who died while in military service.

For most people is it the official start of the summer season. Here at Extreme Sports SCUBA, this weekend, besides being a time to remember the people that died while in service to our country, it starts the local dive season and the start of Open Water classes open water dives at Beaver Lake. Continue reading→

How to Pack for SCUBA Diving at the Lake

Posted on by Posted in Dive Trips

With Memorial Day quickly approaching, a lot of people will be diving at the Lake. Whether this is your first trip to the lake or your 100 millionth trip to the lake, let’s discuss how to pack for the lake. Obviously packing for the lake is different than packing for a foreign trip to say Cozumel, which by the way is coming up in July!!

So, how exactly do you pack for the lake?

How to Pack for SCUBA Diving at the Lake

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Visibility and the Lake

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Diving at the lake is a very relaxing, controlled environment, especially if you dive in “our cove.” Typically, the water depth will range from about 30 feet to 50 feet depending on the water levels of the lake. This is why we choose to do Open Water Check-out Dives at the lake.

There are familiar surroundings, lots to see, and great depths to get a first-time diver comfortable. We are able to experience aquatic life as well as thermoclines. It is a great way to help a new diver get comfortable with their surroundings while experiencing multiple scenarios discussed in class.

This atmosphere is perfect for new and old divers alike. It is a great environment to help build comfort levels for all. Continue reading→

Seahorses

Posted on by Posted in Underwater Life

Time for another FACTS FRIDAY (Sharks, Lionfish, and Sea Turtles). Today is about Seahorses, those small amazing almost mythical creatures.

There are 45 species of Seahorses. The genus name is “Hippocampus”, this comes from the ancient greek hippokampos, hippos meaning “horse” and kampos meaning “sea monster”.

Seahorses are found in shallow tropical and temperate salt water throughout the world. They live in sheltered areas such as seagrass, coral reefs, and mangroves. They range in size from a ½ inch to 14 inches and resemble a horse with their bent neck and long nose. Continue reading→

NCRR: What we do to prepare

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In March of 2019, our team Newton County Rescue and Recovery (NCRR) was called to Beaver Lake to assist the Benton and Washington County dive teams in searching for and recovering a couple of people that had drowned.   The water temperature was around 45 degrees for the dives we did. The visibility was less than perfect, we could actually see as far as the INSiDE of our dive masks.  Well, I am kidding but not by much, our visibility ran from none to about 3 ft at best.

Not the best conditions for diving. How do we prepare for that kind of diving you may ask. Continue reading→

Drift Diving Tips

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It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s a SCUBA diver riding the current. What? Think about it, in SCUBA classes you are told about being neutrally buoyant. So, you don’t weigh more or less than the water but basically the same. Think back to those open-water classes… neutrally buoyant divers only move just a couple of inches in the water with the inhale and exhale of a breath of air.

When you take your classes in the lake, you try to practice that neutral buoyancy. But in the lake, you have to keep kicking your fins to propel yourself through the water. It is different in the ocean though.

As most people know, the ocean has currents. Those currents are actually your friend when diving through the open waters of the ocean. You expend less energy propelling yourself through the waters. Instead, the fins help you navigate around walls or down behind the reef, etc. Basically, you kick less for those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to dive in ocean waters yet.

This gives you the feeling of flying. So, you might be Superman? Just a thought. Or a mermaid as a lot of people like to think! But there are some helpful tips to keep in mind. This could be considered an advanced diving practice, but keeping everything in mind, it’s a breeze. Or a current… You choose. Continue reading→

Sea Turtles

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Sea Turtles are a creature that we love to see while Scuba Diving.  They are large air-breathing reptiles that have been around more than 110 million years.  Sea turtles are one of the earth’s most ancient creatures.  Their shell is streamlined for swimming and unlike other turtles, they cannot retract their legs.

Seven species of sea turtles can be found:

Green Sea Turtle

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Diving After Bypass Surgery

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If you were at the April Extreme Dive Club Meeting, you’ll remember the comment where we asked Grady to write a blog post for this month. No, not the one he has written so far, but the one about diving after “bypass surgery.” This is what he wrote:

“Don’t take your wife to the doctor with you.”

Let me explain why I thought he should not be diving 2 months after bypass surgery. Continue reading→

But It’s Dark Out There…

Posted on by Posted in Underwater Life

You’ve arrived at your tropical ocean destination and perhaps have even done a day or two of diving already and then somebody asks if you’d like to go on a night dive in the ocean.  Why would you want to go on a nighttime ocean dive?  It’s dark out there.

Ocean night dives are one of my favorite kind of dives to do.  The reef comes alive at night, literally, most of the hard corals that look like a rock during the day come alive with polyps and are actively feeding at night.  These pictures of corals at night with the fluorescent lighting show the polyps really well

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